1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for pressing press-fit sections of contact elements of multipolar plug-in connectors into boreholes of a printed circuit board, as well as a tool for carrying out this method.
Specifically, the present invention is directed to such a method in which the contact elements are disposed in rows and columns in a carrier of insulating material, with the contact elements being held initially in recesses in the insulator by means of frictional resistance. The contact elements are pressed by means of a comb-like tool into the boreholes of the printed circuit board, and the pressing-in force of the tool is transferred by appropriate shoulders on the tool which engage shoulders on the contact elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
The pressing of the contact elements of a multipolar plug-in connector by a comb-like tool into the boreholes of a printed circuit board is well known. Such a tool has recesses for temporarily accommodating the upper ends of the contact elements, as well as shoulder-like stops, which interact with corresponding shoulders on the contact elements and transfer the pressing-in force.
The force which must be applied to press in the tool is determined by the number of press-fit sections of the contact elements which must be pressed in simultaneously and assumes considerable values as the number of contact elements increases. For example, when pressing in known 96-pole plug-in connectors, forces of the order of 5,000 to 10,000N have to be applied.
Recent developments have been in the direction of providing plug-in connector strips with up to 500 contact elements. The force which must be applied to simultaneously press in the contact elements is of the order of 25,000 to 75,000N. If at all, such forces can be applied for the installation of plug-in connector strips only with enormously large presses and not with presses available for the installation of plug-in connector strips.